Of Returns and Romances
by CTPx
Summary: Sequel to "Of Showers and Towels"! Darby is back and this time she, for some reason, is taken back to Narnia with the Kings and Queens of old. Why in the world is she there? and what, exactly is going on with Peter?


Hi! I'm back! This is the sequel to _Of Showers and Towels_! I hope you enjoy!

an- I only own Darby!

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Chapter 1: Of Fights and Familiar Places

It had been over a year since sixteen year old Darby Harrison had laid her eyes on Narnia, the beautiful fantasyland where she had met the most wonderful people imaginable, the Pevensie siblings, before she came to a tragic fate. She lived in Narnia until she succumbed to the Gray Fever, a horrible disease that brought the death of many Narnians. After dying in Narnia, she woke up back in her own world, as if the whole thing had just been a wonderful dream, but Darby knew that it was not. Ten months later, Darby's father was transferred to the town of Finchley in England where she was reunited with her friends from Narnia, the Pevensies, and now she was about to start school.

"Darby, Susan, Edmund come on!" Little Lucy said dragging the two older girls by the arm into the train station. Edmund ran closely behind them.

"What's going on, Lu?" Darby asked the young girl as they walked into the tunnel where a crowd of young people wearing red jackets and black blazers stood around a brawl consisting of many boys.

"Oh, not again," Susan mumbled under her breath, finally connecting what was going on.

"This is the third time this month!" Darby sighed before pushing her way to the front to get a better look at what was happening.

"All right, all right," A police officer came in and pulled the boys off each other. "Break it up!"

Peter, who had been in the middle of the whole thing, fell in line behind Darby as she and the other siblings made their way to a nearby empty bench to sit down and wait for their time to leave. A dark scowl marred his handsome features and his hands were shoved deeply into the pockets of his trousers. Darby sent him a small smile, hoping to brighten up his mood, but her hopes were dashed. Lately, Peter had become very moody and introverted to everyone, even herself. After everything they'd been through together, Darby was very surprised that he had closed up to her.

"So, what was that all about?" Edmund questioned after they had all been seated tightly on the bench.

"He pushed me," Peter replied with no emotion in his voice.

"Oh, Peter," Susan shook her head, ashamed of her older brothers actions.

The oldest of the Pevensies just got up and walked slightly away from the group before running a hand through his dark blonde hair and sighing, " I'm tired of being treated like a stupid kid. I was a king."

Darby had no idea what to say. So this was the reason he had been clamming up lately. He was tired of being treated like a little boy, like a nobody. She quietly got up to stand behind him and put her small hand on his shoulder, reassuringly. He turned around to face her and she gave him her warmest smile that she reserved only to make him happy. He loved that smile and every time he saw it, it lifted his spirits immensely.

The two walked, hand-in-hand, back to the small bench and all was once again, right in the world. They sat back down on the bench, quietly waiting for their train to arrive. Students swarmed around them, also waiting for the train to arrive and take them far off to school. Suddenly, Lucy jumped.

"Ouch!" Lucy shrieked. "Ed, quit pinching me!"

"What? I'm not pinch- ow!" Edmund, too, jumped up suddenly.

" What are you two going on about?" Darby asked curiously. Susan, too, started yelping out and soon, Peter was as well. "What's going on?"

"Don't you feel it?" Susan said with a look of pain on her face.

"Feel what?" Darby replied. This was weird, and she was developing a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"I feel like I'm being pinched," Peter said strangely.

" Everyone hold hands!" Susan commanded.

They were all up at once, holding hands, and the moment Darby linked hands with Peter and Edmund, she was feeling that strange pinching as well. All of a sudden, they train was shooting out of the tunnel and the bricks on the wall were fading away and light blue sky was replacing them. A slight breeze blew towards them and then as quickly as it had started, it all stopped. The five of them were left standing on a beach with no train, no tunnel, and no one but themselves.

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"Where do you suppose we are?" Edmund asked as he glanced up at the cliff that overlooked the beach.

"Narnia," Lucy laughed. "Where else would we be?"

"I knew that," Ed rolled his eyes, "but where exactly?"

Darby shrugged her shoulders. She had never really seen much of Narnia, besides the small regions that lay outside the great castle of Cair Paravel where she had once lived with the Pevensie siblings.

"I don't know," Peter shrugged. He was just happy to be back. When the five had gotten over their moment of shock from returning to the magical land, they had run quickly and happily down to the water where they messed about and splashed each other until they were so tired that they could no more. Afterwards, they laid out on the sand letting the warm sun dry their now wet clothes, just basking in their new-found happiness.

"I don't remember there being any ruins in Narnia," Edmund kept on. He walked closer towards the cliff to check it out further. "Let's go have a look around."

The other four exchanged glances to signal that they, too, wanted to have a look around where they now were, and so, the five trekked off up a great, rocky hill that would lead them straight up to these mysterious ruins that they were longing to see. To Darby, this place felt oddly familiar, like she had been here before, but she knew she couldn't have been. She would have remembered seeing these ruins already.

Once they made it all the way to the top, Darby looked out at the view over the great ocean, and somehow she knew that she really had seen this before. It was not just her imagination telling her she had. She could tell that the other were also feeling the same way she was from the way they were looking around.

"Who do you suppose lived here?" Lucy asked curiously as she looked out at the same view Darby had just taken in.

"I think we did," Susan was holding a small dinged up, golden chess piece in her hand and looking at it curiously.

Upon further examination, they found that the ruins they were standing in were Cair Paravel, their beloved home. In looking around, they found the treasure room, where statues of the four monarchs in their later years stood and in front of them were large stone chests holding everything from every gown Susan and Lucy had ever owned to every piece of chain mail Peter and Edmund had ever worn.

"Oh, look how tall I was," Lucy cried out as she held out a long dress to her body.

"Well, you were older then," Susan smiled and pulled out some dresses out of her chest.

"Yes, as opposed to hundreds of years later when she is older," Edmund laughed.

"Oh, Darby, look, it's your dress!" Susan exclaimed as she pulled a beautiful white gown out of her chest. It was the dress that Darby once wore to the ball the night before Peter and Edmund were to go away to was in Archenland as allies to King Lune.

"I love that dress," Peter smiled slightly. In his hand he held his sword, Rhindon, and he had a change of clothes thrown over his arm.

"Me, too," Darby fondly remembering that night and her grand entrance into the ballroom where all eyes, including Peter's, rested on her alone. It had been a magical night that had ended unfortunately with her passed out in her room.

"This is all really strange," Edmund looked around at the treasure room where they now stood. It really was strange, Darby thought. How could glorious Cair Paravel end up like this?

"I think it's about time we find out what happened here."

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Now, what did you think? I don't want any flames, but some constructive criticism is nice! So please, please, please review!


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